Preface

Since the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, the viral disease has spread like wildfire across the entire globe, hampering the quality of human life at multiple levels and causing irretrievable loss of human life. There are many aspects like psychological well-being, loss of jobs, pay cuts, loss of education and unpaid caregiving, emerging as other important consequences of the pandemic. As educators, we need to educate and provide our students with first-hand information about the ongoing crisis. This innovative book is intended to cater to scientists, academicians and students from science, humanities and commerce backgrounds to understand the pandemic from a microscopic view and how it has touched our lives at different levels. The unique special point of this book is its interdisciplinary nature making it useful for people belonging to different academic streams. A collection of topics has been explored through dedicated chapters authored by expert scientists, academicians and research scholars from leading and premier institutions. The chapters range from the very origination of the virus and factors that may facilitate its spread, like air pollution, along with the impact on nutritional, mental, psychological, and educational aspects. Mortality was not only caused by the virus, but problems like domestic violence, job cuts and suicides due to financial crunch also caused loss of lives, and these aspects are being explored by experts. The book would also provide the necessary information about the management strategies to deal with the peril caused by the COVID pandemonium. Another interesting feature of the book is the inclusion of case studies conducted with different groups like women and children to know how their lives were impacted by the pandemic and how they are coping with the situation. Another distinguishing point of the book is that the majority of the authors are women belonging to different educational backgrounds and reputed academic and research institutions. The book will prove to be of use not only to degree students and academicians but will also provide topics of interest to the common person looking to gain survey-based information on the pandemic.